Tour the famous Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital and then walk around its historic grounds. Here you will learn of the disturbing and often dark history of Psychiatry. As you walk through a maze of buildings of the hospital, you will hear strange and terrible stories of the history of psychiatry rich in controversy from ancient times, even until today. Prepare yourself to enter what was once a forbidden world – a brutal one stained with torturous, often deadly treatments, inflicted for centuries on the most desperate and tormented patients. Learn of the horrors of 19th and 20th century psychiatric “treatments”, and the agonized lives of the hospital’s inmates. And at last we will lead you on a path to the cemetery where in seemingly calm fellowship many souls lay at rest.
Days:
Wed, Sun
Time:
2:00 pm
Duration:
3 hours
Includes:
Far more than any other kind of sickness, mental illness has for centuries been the target of prejudices and brutal treatments. The buildings and beautiful grounds of the Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital are the perfect starting point to survey this history. Your journey will also allow you to explore the origins of psychiatry in Europe.
On the tour, we bring you to Bohnice, on the outskirts of Prague. We present a unique and detailed perspective on the hospital’s history and of the methods used on patients suffering from mental disorders, methods which may be seen today shocking and even incomprehensible, from torture and mystical rituals in Medieval times, to more recent treatments such as shock therapy and lobotomies. Our visit takes you on a journey into the field of psychiatry and its roots. This includes reflection on treatments encouraged by the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry, which at times increased the harm done to patients. This tour of the institution’s grounds allows every enthusiast to feel close to the tragic past of many of the region’s most stigmatized patients.
This eerie promenade will also lead you towards the Asylum’s famous abandonned graveyard where patients, criminals and many other lost souls were once laid to rest. However, tread carefully on the way, the forgotton souls who have never found peace may still roam around the clinic‘s seemingly tranquil grounds.
This tour starts in front of the gate to the Psychiatric Hospital in Bohnice, Ústavní 91, 181 00 Praha 8
All our tours start from Tynska 7 in Prague’s Old Town, just a few minutes’ walk from the Old Town Square.
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